The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for wrapping round hay bales and, in particular, to an apparatus for helical wrapping round hay bales in a plastic film.
There are many prior art devices available for forming hay into round bales, moving the bales, and unrolling the bales when desired. The bales are rather large in size and can weight a few thousand pounds each. Since these bales are difficult to move and require a large amount of storage space, they typically are stored outside. Thus, the bales are exposed to the elements and tend to loose nutrients which would have been beneficial to the animals utilizing the hay for feed.
One method of preventing loss of nutrients is to wrap the bale in a plastic film. U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,836 discloses an apparatus and method for loading plastic tubing with bales. A removably mounted bracket delivers plastic tubing for the roll over one of opposite open ends of a vertically positioned, pivotally mounted drum. When the entire roll of plastic tubing is gathered over the drum outer surface and tied over one of the drum's opposite open ends, the drum is then pivoted to a horizontal operating position with the opposite open end facing a bale engaged by a carriage. The engaged bale activates a hydraulic cylinder to force a telescoping ram against the opposite face of the carriage. This causes the engaged bale to enter the drum and load into the plastic tubing. A drop gate extension on the carriage ejects the last bale from the drum to clear the apparatus. This apparatus has the disadvantage that the bales must be transported to it by a truck or other vehicle and the bales must then be stored in one long plastic tube.